Nature Moncton Nature News: Dec 21 2018

NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, December 21, 2018 (Friday)

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Please advise editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or photo labeling.

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca

Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

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** Shawn Cormier got an awesome photo of a BROWN CREEPER [Grimpereau brun] in Moncton on Thursday. It clearly shows the unique features of this special little bird that is so hard to get to stay still long enough for a photo. The photo shows the long curved bi-coloured bill, the long sharp nails, and the tail effectively being used as a prop.

** It is that time of year when RUFFED GROUSE [Gélinotte huppée] enjoy the nutrition-packed winter buds of trees. Jane LeBlanc got one enjoying a mid-afternoon lunch on a Gray Birch tree aside her St. Martins home on Thursday.

** Jean-Paul and Stella LeBlanc spotted a lone CANADA GOOSE [Bernache du Canada] near the Cormierville marsh on Thursday afternoon, as well as an AMERICAN WIGEON [Canard d'Amérique] in the small pond aside the Bouctouche lagoon. Two NORTHERN PINTAIL [Canard pilet] were also in that small pond, one an adult male and the other a young-of-the-year male.

** Georges Brun has been watching a bird travelling with BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES [Mésange à tête noire] and DARK-EYED JUNCOS [Junco ardoisé] and has not been able to get a bead on it until it decided to follow the lead of a Black-capped Chickadee and land on a windowsill to check things out to give a close-up photo to easily nail down identity, a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. Georges also watches the Riverview marsh closely and sees raptors there but usually just too distant to identify. He got a distant photo of a raptor on Thursday he was very suspicious was a SHORT-EARED OWL [Hibou des marais] from what he could see. There were two at that site last winter.

** Brian Coyle got a nice photo of a fresh COYOTE [Coyote] track in the fresh snow on Wednesday. Note the arrows pointing out the cone in the centre of the prints to suggest canine, and the nail imprint showing only with the middle toe pads as is often the case with wild canine as being so active tends to keep their side nails too worn to imprint. The tracks measure 1 ½ inch by 2 inches with a stride of 16 inches which would be on the lower end for a Coyote that’s often 19+ inches. It may have been a young-of-the-year female.

** It’s been a bit surprising to see RED-TAILED HAWKS [Buse à queue rousse] and possibly a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK [Buse pattue] in the Dieppe traffic circle over the past several days. There has to be a food source there, assuming it is voles. Daryl Doucet leaves some interesting suggestions why the vole number may be significant there, commenting that the traffic circle may be keeping out predators like foxes, coyotes and weasels, giving only the air-born predators easy access. The goose fence may be playing a role as well.

** A lucky HAIRY WOODPECKER [Pic chevelu] was sent back on its mission after a careful warming and recovery period after a hard window strike on Thursday, thanks to the quick action of Krysta Doyle at her Lewis Mountain home.

** Aldo Dorio got a photo of a bright male AMERICAN ROBIN [Merle d'Amérique] very much enjoying some fallen apples on Hay Island on Thursday afternoon. No doubt it welcomed the increase in temperature to soften its lunch.

** This week’s Sky-at-a-Glance is included in this edition, courtesy of sky-guru Curt Nason. In case you don’t recognize the term praesepe as I didn’t, the Oxford defines it as a “large open cluster of stars in the constellation of Cancer; the beehive” with the origin in Latin literally ‘manger, hive.’

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, December 22 – December 29
The most inconspicuous of the zodiac constellations is faint Cancer the Crab, which is nestled between Gemini and Leo. In mythology, the crab was sent by the goddess queen Hera to distract Hercules while he was battling the Hydra. The crab was no match for the strongman’s stomp. Ancient Egyptians saw it as their sacred dung beetle, the scarab. In the first millennium BC the Sun was in Cancer at the summer solstice, the time when it halts its northward motion and slowly starts heading south. This back and forth motion of the rising and setting Sun on the horizon was perhaps reminiscent of a crab sidling on a beach.

The constellation is recognized by a trapezoid of dim but naked eye stars as the crab’s body, with other stars representing the claws and legs. The trapezoid was also seen as a manger flanked by a pair of donkeys, Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australus. On a clear dark night we can see a hazy patch of hay within the manger, and binoculars reveal it as a beautiful star cluster called the Beehive, Praesepe (manger) or M44. Being near the ecliptic, the Moon and planets often pass through or near this cluster. The Beehive was once used to forecast storms, for if it could not be seen it was hidden by light clouds at the front of a weather system. Binoculars reveal another star cluster, M67, less than a fist-width south of M44.

Around midnight on Christmas Eve the Moon is near Praesepe. This will make it difficult to see the hay in the manger as moonlight washes out the stars. Perhaps the Moon is an ox joining the donkeys to eat the hay. Magic, or Magi?

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:58 am and sunset will occur at 4:36 pm, giving 8 hours, 38 minutes of daylight (8:00 am and 4:44 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 8:01 am and set at 4:41 pm, giving 8 hours, 40 minutes of daylight (8:03 am and 4:49 pm in Saint John).

The Moon is full on Saturday, the Long Night Moon or the Mi’mgaw Chief Moon, and it approaches the Beehive star cluster on Monday evening. Mercury is two degrees left of Jupiter on Saturday morning and they appear within the same binocular view until Boxing Day, with Mercury heading sunward. Venus rules the morning sky to their upper right. Mars is at its highest in the south at 6 pm while Saturn is too low in the west at sunset for observing. Comet 46P/Wirtanen passes below Capella, the sixth brightest star, on Sunday evening. It is seen best with binoculars, resembling a hazy thumbprint the size of the Moon or larger. You might see the odd shooting star emanating from the handle of the Big Dipper this weekend as the minor Ursid meteor shower peaks on Saturday evening. The bright full Moon will be doing its best to hide them, however.

Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.

nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier,

Nature Moncton